Letters to the editor March 28
State Senate update
The Montana Legislature has finished 60 days of its 90 day session. The following are some Senate revenue bills that have passed the Senate recently and are on their way to the House for their approval.
SB 125 establishes the Montana Reinsurance Association Program. This bill will assess 1.2 percent on health insurance premiums. These funds will be used to stabilize or reduce premium rates in the individual market and mitigate the impact of high-cost individuals. It should help those that have trouble getting insurance because of preexisting conditions.
SB 320 revises laws concerning animal welfare hearings. This bill will have animal owners accused of animal cruelty post a bond for the cost of the care for those animals. It allows for any inured or diseased animals to be euthanized if a veterinarian determines they are not likely to recover. It should help reduce the costs counties incur in these cases. If the owner is found not guilty of animal cruelty the animal will be returned as well as the full amount of the bond along with fair market value for any losses.
SB 256 revises harvested game animal transfer laws. A person licensed to hunt and authorized to possess a carcass of a game animal that requires mandatory department biological inspection may transfer possession of all or part of that game animal to any person at any time after leaving the site of the kill. A validated tag and statement of possession must accompany the carcass.
SB 318 provides for pre-approval of property tax abatement for new or expanding industry (NEI). Currently, a taxpayer requesting an NEI local property tax abatement must have a construction permit before the application can be approved by the local governing body. SB 318 would allow taxpayers to submit project plans in advance of construction application.
—Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell
America’s civil unrest
I read with amusement a March 21 letter from reader Jim Garvey of Kalispell who complained of America’s uncivil discourse. Mr. Garvey blasted the “total insanity” and “asinine behavior.”
To be sure, he’s right to cite the 81-year-old allegedly assaulted by the 19-year-old over the elderly man’s MAGA hat, as well as the TV star accused of lying about a “beating” by MAGA hat wearing assailants in Chicago. Inexcusably wrong.
But Garvey also labels Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony as part of this madness and wonders where it’s all coming from. Really? Does any clear-eyed citizen have to remind this reader where the madness began and continues to be perpetrated? From the top! Cohen’s former boss!
The president who routinely incites his MAGA hat wearing faithful to beat up journalists and voters with whom Mr. Trump disagrees. (There are reams of video to prove this.) The same president who continues to disparage a dead senator from his own party who was a war hero. The same president who uses derisive and demeaning nicknames for political opponents who run against him. The same president who promoted and fomented a lie about the 44th president’s birthplace and birth certificate. The same president who refuses to denounce a white supremacy movement because it is part of his voter base. The same president who lies so often, publications easily count them by the hundreds.
Mr. Garvey, turn off Fox News Channel for a minute (where you won’t see any of this reported) and look around. You’ll easily see all of America’s civil unrest started and continues to be led by the 45th president, which you unbelievably failed to mention.
—Mark Suppelsa, Bigfork
Future of civilization at stake
When did “domestic” become a pejorative term?
Mothers’ Day is soon upon us. As a recently widowed man after 55 years of marriage, I’m now confronting the tasks that my wife faced on a daily basis while I was all about earning an income. Believe me when I tell you that, although I appreciated what she’d accomplished over the years in our household, I now realize that I was selling her short.
In “olden times,” wives stayed at home, whether in the log cabins, sod huts, etc., or in a modern home, simply trying to keep her family safe, fed, clothed, and reasonably happy.
In modern times, many denigrate domestic tasks into a menial set of chores to which no “worthy” woman should aspire. Meanwhile, in these same times, families disintegrate, and children drift through their early childhood without a paternal “rudder.” Is it any wonder that we now face youthful rebellion, even anarchistic or communistic behaviors? They’ve grown up without learning the fundamentals of family relationships, much less societal or religious pinning.
We now reap what we’ve sown, facing rebellious young people who have no respect for our beliefs, though they have no reason to have any beliefs of their own other than those originating from the social media who spew hatred and venom from myriad sources. Is it any wonder that our country finds itself divided?
My plea, amid millions of others, is that mothers of today resume their most important jobs of raising their children. After all, we are born as ignorant animals. We must be taught to become civilized, and citizens. The future of our civilization is at stake. What could be more important than that?
—Ward DeWitt, Bigfork
What a shame
Well Tester is at it again. He voted to murder our babies. I don’t care what party they represent, this is murder. Of course he got paid as usual. He got $6,990 from EMILY’s List and $10,000 from NARAL. He is still lining his own pockets. What else can you expect from a crook? I wonder how much under the table money he got? What a shame on Montana.
—Martha K. Snipes, Columbia Falls